When I spoke to her, mother of the bride the morning of the
wedding, she was walking the young men through how to usher wedding guests, in
her living room. This, the girlhood
friend with whom I wrote endless notes, stayed up late countless nights talking
about our futures, when I was 12—and then 18.
When I was 10, her mother had taken my mother aside and said she was
worried about me, while they would be out-of-state with my brother undergoing
leukemia treatment, and would she consider having me come and live with them
for a time? That was 37 years ago.
Weddings are meaningful far beyond the celebration of a
couple’s union before God. More than
almost any other gathering they have a power to encompass the past, present and
the future; and a power to lift us out of the moment and transport us to a
light-filled reality that we seldom navigate in our mundane daily-ness; but that is, nonetheless, very much not a fantasy.
Weddings are meaningful
moments to remember all that God has done in our lives. This wedding was, for me, more poignant than
most, having prayed about our marriages before there were marriages and our
children before ever there were children.
But in every wedding except the most dutifully attended, some history is
hearkened, that as God weaves His tapestry of our lives, should point us to a
reality of His Hand moving and bringing His designs to pass over extended
periods of time. Weddings are a time to
raise our Ebenezers – “hither by thy grace I’ve come”…and if we pray regularly for those we love, most weddings should be a
time of rejoicing over answered prayers.
Weddings are
meaningful moments to draw attention and
glory to God, the Creator of weddings.
This was, after all, His idea. “It
was not good that man should be alone…therefore shall a man leave his father
and mother and cleave to his wife…” God
is the Author of marriage. God is the
mastermind behind beauty. God Himself is
Love, and the atmosphere of love and beauty and heightened awareness of our most
meaningful relationships at a wedding ought to be a rich feast of remembering
Him and indulging in the reality of His character as revealed in joyful
celebration. Interesting that Jesus’
first miracle was at a wedding, and that turning mundane water into the best of
wines.
Weddings are
meaningful moments to remind us of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Can we ever, ever get our minds around what
it means that we, as His church, are His bride? Should we ever shed the wonder of this
reality? Could we ever forget that when
all the toil is done here, what awaits us is, first, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? All the moments of our lives are leading to a
consummation of eternity, beginning with a
wedding feast? I won’t have to run
out at the last minute and buy shoes for everyone, and my new dress won’t be
wrinkled and snagged there…the passage describing this never fails to take my
breath away and give me chills, and tears besides…
“Then a voice came
from the Throne saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants, and all those
who fear Him, both small and great! And
I heard as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many
waters, and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him
glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself
ready.” And to her it was granted to be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous
acts of the saints.
“Then He said to me, “Write:
Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!” And He said to me, “These are the true
sayings of God.”
Tell me you can
read that, ponder it, without your heart bursting out of you with gratitude,
expectation, and undone awe. If not,
perhaps you’d better read it again and ensure you’re actually going to be there
with me, sitting right down the table in your New Linens, that sacrifice of
praise, those acts done in love enervated by Christ’s grace, to serve the
saints, wrapped finely around you in beauty and radiance.
Weddings are meaningful
moments to cause us to look with new eyes at our own lovers and remember our own
romances. Not all of us are
married. But many of us are, and we know
how the daily-ness and our own sin, takes it out of us--that remembering of the
spark that lit our first days and years.
A wedding is a perfect time to remember, to re-live, to hold hands and
kiss again and to celebrate our own lovers.
Weddings are
meaningful moments to encourage us to see and savor God’s providences. This love story consummated in this weekend’s
wedding is a bit unusual, and I’ll tell a small of the story soon. Suffice it to say, God’s providential Hand
has loomed large in bringing together this man and wife, both from families
with six children, and with birthdays two days apart, from opposite corners of
the continent.
